A–Sonia Schreiber Weitz, Massachusetts House of Representatives (c.1975)
B–Harriet Tarnor Wacks and Sonia Schreiber Weitz (1983)
C–Professor Robert McAndrews with Sonia Schreiber Weitz, Yom HaShoah (2000)
D–Sonia Schreiber Weitz, Birkenau (1986)
E–Sonia Schreiber Weitz, Krakow Ghetto Memorial (1986)
F–Yom HaShoah (2000)
As the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies celebrates its 10year anniversary, we recognize our own history and acknowledge the visionaries who laid our foundations years earlier.
Over 40 years ago, survivor Sonia Schreiber Weitz and journalist Harriet Tarnor Wacks established the Holocaust Center of the North Shore (later the Holocaust Center Boston North) in Peabody, Massachusetts. The mission of the fledgling non-profit center was educational. It centered on sharing Sonia’s Holocaust testimony through personal talks to middle and high school students and the reading of Sonia’s story, I Promised I Would Tell, in classrooms across the North Shore and beyond. Thanks to Sonia’s inspiring words and writings and Harriet’s tireless organizational and educational leadership and support from Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), the center reached thousands of students, teachers, and community members through teaching the lessons and legacies of the Holocaust to combat racism, antisemitism, and prejudice. In addition to educational programs and conferences, the HCBN organized the North Shore’s most enduring event, Yom HaShoah commemoration, each spring. Sonia and Harriet’s dream always included continuing the mission of their center as a more permanent and enduring institution north of Boston.
After the death of Sonia in 2010, Harriet approached two Salem State faculty members, Robert McAndrews PhD and Chris Mauriello PhD, who also sat on the Board of the HCBN, about starting a new center at Salem State University to continue the mission begun over forty years earlier. In April 2014, after an intensive transition, and aided by a seed grant from the Cummings Foundation and the support of the CJP, the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies was established as an academic research and educational center. Professors Stephenie Young and Lisa Mulman joined as the first interdisciplinary faculty research fellows and helped to establish the Center’s Graduate Certificate in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The names, faces, and address of the center have changed, but its mission remains the same: in Sonia’s words, “to study the past so there can be a future.”
Professor Chris Mauriello, Director CHGS
(top) Director Chris Mauriello speaks with Salem State University President John D. Keenan
(middle) Director Chris Mauriello and Ben Ferencz (2014)
(bottom) Landmark School students visit Salem State University (2019)
A speaker series has always been central to our mission at the CHGS. Even before we were officially a center, we had the privilege to invite such esteemed scholars and writers as Dr. Krista Hegburg from the USHMM, Dr. Susan Suleiman (Harvard University), and deeply impactful author from former Yugoslavia, Dubravka Ugrešić (1949-2023).
The speaker series was solidly established after we received a generous 10-year grant from the Cummings Foundation. We knew that we wanted to name it after someone who had been a key influence on our work at the center, so in 2014 the CHGS board voted to name the speaker series in honor of Holocaust survivor Sonia Schreiber Weitz. As one of the founders of the Holocaust Center Boston North, she dedicated her life to fostering dialogue and educating the public about the Holocaust and the importance of history and memory.
Mr. Patrice Bensimon and Mr. Emmanuel Cortey from Yahad-In Unum pictured with CHGS Program Manager, Cathy Hennessey, October 20, 2017
Since then, we have opened our doors to a host of high-profile speakers including Nuremberg lawyer Benjamin Ferencz (1920-2023); Dr. Scott Straus on global mass violence, genocide and genocide prevention; Patrice Bensimon, former research director of Yahad-In Unum in Paris, who spoke about the “Holocaust by Bullets”; Pulitzer-Prize winner Peter Balakian, who presented his acclaimed book The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response ; and Carl Wilkens talking about his experiences during the Rwandan Genocide. We also hosted a film screening of Heart of Nuba (2016) focusing on the work of Dr. Tom Catena with the mountain people of Sudan during the genocide. Immigration lawyers Susan Church and Jesse Bless also visited us to speak about US immigration policies during the Trump era. Most recently, Dr. Jan Grabowski presented on Holocaust denial and distortion in Poland, and author and scholar Dr. Ilan Stavans spoke about his work, his family, and his travels through Jewish Latin America.
The story of Rwanda Study and Travel begins with a meeting arranged by SSU President Patricia Maguire Meservey in November 2013. Professors Chris Mauriello and Rob McAndrews were invited by her to meet with Bill and Joyce Cummings and the co-founder of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, Anne Heyman. At this meeting, Anne shared her passion for the visionary work of this residential school community in rural Rwanda that she and her partner Seth Merrin founded in 2007. Anne extended an invitation to Chris and Rob to organize trips for SSU students to meet the students and staff at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.
The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village is a place of learning and renewal. In its early years, most of the youth were orphaned during or after the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The Village is a place of hope where “tears are dried” (signified by the Kinyarwanda word agahozo) and where the aim
is to live in peace (from the Hebrew, shalom). The 144-acre campus has 32 family houses for 500 students, along with a high school, a farm, and a solar energy field (the largest in East Africa).
The Center began offering the Rwanda studytravel course in the summer of 2015. SSU students are provided living accommodations in guest cottages on the campus and are invited to participate in the community life of the Village. The study-travel course also offers students the opportunity to participate in numerous off-campus experiences for the purpose of learning about the culture and history of Rwanda, including visits to genocide memorial sites and the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The Rwanda study-travel course provides SSU students with the opportunity to interact with the people of Rwanda in everyday settings such as marketplaces and artists collectives, and to gain a deeper understanding of the many facets of post-genocide reconstruction initiatives.
By Professor Emeritus Robert McAndrews, School of Social Work, Co-Founder of the CHGS
I feel I have experienced a transformation in myself, both personally and as a professional. Being more vulnerable by putting myself in an entirely new environment and thriving has allowed me to gain confidence in my abilities to thrive in new environments in the US.
SSU Student Testimony
Traveling to Rwanda was an incredible learning experience. From arriving in Kigali and seeing its sites to visiting the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, the trip was comprised of many elements that were both educational and enjoyable. A very meaningful part of the trip was visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial. This experience gave the program background and context. Without understanding the horrors of the genocide, I could not fully appreciate the impact of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village and the progress the nation of Rwanda has made.
SSU Student Testimony
Since its inception, the CHGS faculty has been taking students abroad to study the effects of mass violence, genocide, and trauma on affected communities throughout the world. We feel that experiential learning is one of the best ways for our students to explore difficult topics, build empathy, and develop cultural sensitivity. With us, they have the opportunity to safely enter into completely new experiences and thrive. We make every effort to offer our students a life-changing experience through scholarships. We also take many teachers on our educational trips who then return to their
classrooms and incorporate their experiences into their own teaching. Over the years, we have taken hundreds of students and community members to places such as the Nazi Rally Grounds in Nuremberg, Germany, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland, the Mauthausen Memorial in Austria, the Srebrenica Memorial Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda. Our affiliated faculty have also led domestic study and travel trips to the US South, New York City, and Washington DC. We look forward to continuing this wonderful program!
My experiences learning from, being a part of, and traveling with the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies have been revelatory and life changing. Some friends ask why I travel to such grim places. I tell them it is partly to study and bear witness to the consequential brutalities of genocide. The places are grim and the horror difficult to imagine unless one sees the remnants of these crimes against humanity. We are nothing without memory and blind without seeing. To contemplate history’s hard lessons, we embrace opportunities to see where history should be memorialized. More redemptive and inspiring are how the victims of atrocity seek ways of understanding the moral architecture and political alchemy of genocide, while gathering profound insights on how to move forward, perhaps forgive, and present a resolve to build a future that keeps the promise of a hopeful civilization.
clockwise:
US Holocaust Museum, Washington DC, May 7, 2016
Students in Croatia
Students en route through Poland
Dinner in Krakow, Poland
Danielle Luman, 911 Memorial Museum, New York City, New York
Ed Morneau, retired teacher and current CHGS Board member
I have enjoyed the opportunities to travel with the CHGS group from Salem State over the past few years. All of the trips I have taken combine two of my passions—history and travel. Most of my personal travels include museums and historic places and going on trips with the CHGS group has really enhanced my travel experiences. The groups that I have traveled with have been fun and even though we may have slightly different reasons for travel, we are all very interested in and excited by history and in experiencing new places. Traveling to places where the events we study actually occurred allows for a deeper connection with the past and with the people who experienced it.
Tracy Das, M.A. in History and English
Choosing to study in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies certificate program was the easiest decision I have made in continuing my graduate studies. This program has provided numerous opportunities to travel abroad and uniquely use experiential learning while making new friends. Through opportunities to study abroad and the use of interdisciplinary lenses in my classes, this certificate has helped prepare me to teach the Holocaust and genocides to my own students.
Christian B. Weisse, Educator and graduate student in History and the HGS Certificate ProgramPronouns: They/Them
Facing page, Prague Castle, Czech Republic
This page, top to bottom, left to right, Warsaw Uprising Monument, Poland Students visiting Auschwitz
Alexandra Kirby, Srebrenica Memorial, Bosnia
Professor Mauriello with Jill and Alice Sullivan, Dubrovnik, Croatia
The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has allowed me to stay in close contact with my alma mater while developing as an educator. The workshops have made me a better teacher, the cohort has given me a professional community, and our collaborations have provided my students with powerful, purposeful, and memorable learning experiences. Teaching genocide education is like no other kind of teaching—it is emotionally challenging, deeply meaningful, and ultimately rewarding. I could not have created my Genocide Studies class, sustained it these last eight years, or become the educator I am today without the CHGS. I am endlessly grateful and can’t wait to see what the next 10 years will bring to this growing community.
JustinBilton, English Teacher, Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School
The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) has offered stellar professional development and teacher workshops for educators from the beginning. The workshops have equipped me with the necessary skills and knowledge to teach my students about mass violence. We really are lucky to have such a vital resource in our community.
LoriMarenda, History Educator, Salem High School
As the mission statement for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies makes clear, educational outreach has always been a vital part of our programming and purpose. We are proud of the decade-long series of teacher workshops that has prepared hundreds of area teachers to understand and teach about the complexities of the Holocaust and other genocides in their secondary school classrooms.
The Center had already started working with area teachers before 2014, but a partnership that spring with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s education team really jumpstarted our educational outreach. In the fall of 2013, Jaime Wurzel and Brad Austin attended a weeklong conference in DC, where they received specialized training in Holocaust education and became part of a team of educators tasked with hosting a teacher workshop back in Salem. The following spring, USHMM-trained master teachers from Tennessee, New Jersey, and New York (in addition to the director of the USHMM program, Christina Chavarria) came to Salem and helped the CHGS staff train about fifty teachers. It was a wonderful day, and it convinced the CHGS staff that our Center had an opportunity to provide much-needed leadership in the Boston area.
Over the last ten years, the Center has provided that leadership. During that time, we have offered at least twenty professional development opportunities for teachers, bringing nationally recognized content and pedagogy experts to Salem to work with our expanding network of teachers and partner districts. In addition to the ten sessions we have led on teaching different aspects of the Holocaust, we have offered teacher workshops on topics ranging from Native American history, Civil Rights Movements, and environmental justice, to the Cambodian, Rwandan, and Guatemalan Genocides.
In December 2021, Governor Baker signed S. 2557, An Act Concerning Genocide Education, and the Center recognized that area educators
would need additional support and training to meet the law’s requirements. Because our educational programs had already established the Center as a trusted and effective professional development provider, over the last two years more than a dozen local districts have asked to partner with the Center, using our workshops, professional learning communities, and resources as the centerpieces of their responses to the new law. The CHGS is directly and indirectly shaping how an entire generation of local students will learn about the Holocaust, other genocides, and human rights.
As these new partnerships indicate, the work we’ve done over the past decade has been important, and the demand for the Center’s leadership and guidance will continue over the next decade as well. We accept our responsibility to serve our partners and look forward to many more meaningful conversations, about the most important of topics, with our colleagues in the region’s classrooms.
By Professor Brad Austin, Chair of the History Department and CHGS Education Fellow
Professor
Students
The Certificate in Holocaust and Genocide Studies has provided a unique experience for me as a graduate student at Salem State. The variety within this program has allowed me the freedom to explore my interests in new topics and fields of study. Before enrolling in the certificate program, most of my research and coursework surrounded history and education. It has been exciting and fulfilling to get the opportunity to explore other subjects more, like film, art, and law. Through this certificate, I was able to take my first trip to Berlin on a study-travel course. That trip was so important to me because it was my first time traveling to Europe, and it inspired me to expand my horizons more often. I am grateful that so many travel opportunities are offered through the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The experience I have had working with my professors and peers in these courses has been invaluable to shaping my research and philosophy as a student and individual.
Most importantly, the program has provided me with a space to explore, question, and interact with significant works in Holocaust education, comparative genocide studies, and human rights issues. Through these works I have focused on and deepened my understanding of themes such as memory and history. As a graduate student, the courses in the certificate program have provided me with some of the most engaging work I have ever studied. Of course, the gravity of these subjects emphasizes their importance. However, there is another point of urgency: as a certificate student, I feel both empowered and compelled to use my knowledge to fight against hatred, racism, and abuses of power. The certificate program has inspired me to take what I have learned from my research and share those ideas with my community through book and film clubs, education, and travel. Overall, the Holocaust and Genocide Studies certificate program has helped me become a more informed and engaged community member.
By EJ Sclafani, Graduate student and CHGS Executive Committee Member Top to bottom, left to right: Edward Morneau and Kristal Donnelly, summer trip orientation (2014) Professors Chris Mauriello and Lisa Mulman Stephenie Young with Literature of Genocide students (2019) preparing for travel with Professor Mauriello
My time at the Center consisted of working with an incredibly compassionate and talented staff, many of whom had full-time teaching jobs. For me, it was not simply a job. To educate people on the lessons of history and the ramifications of the Holocaust, as well as other mass atrocities of genocide, was the most important thing I could do with my time. In my time there I met with some of the most fascinating people. One of the highlights for me was meeting Rena Finder, a Holocaust survivor and one of Oskar Schindler’s Jews. She was incredible, so sensitive and kind and forthcoming in her unimaginably moving story of survival. I felt blessed and lucky to meet her and facilitate the telling of her incredible story of survival to the younger generation.
Cathy Hennessey, former Program Manager, CHGS
As a graduate assistant, I was lucky enough to attend lectures from various scholars that brought to the forefront new ideas about Holocaust theory, as well as help coordinate the powerful annual event, Yom HaShoah. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend one of the annual European trips— this trip was to Italy and France—and saw that professors get just as excited as their students.
My time with CHGS taught me valuable skills and helped introduce me to the ever-evolving world of teaching and continuing education. However, what I will take away most from my experience there is the staff meetings in which we would tackle tough event programming choices, as well as discuss world events and new Holocaust theories, all the while talking about them in real world scenarios. Being treated like an equal made my time there priceless and I look forward to working with these colleagues again in the future.
Lindsay Kruzlic , Graduate Assistant, 2022-2023
Cathy Hennessey and Professor Omer Bartov
Aino Ahtiainen and Professor Kazyulina
Dan Eshet, Jen Petz (student employee of the year), Chris Mauriello, Stephenie Young, Cathy Hennessey, May 4, 2017
Lindsay Kruzlic
Professors McAndrews and Mauriello
Professors Mauriello and Eshet
Research is a key focus for the CHGS and over the years we have had dozens of scholars, writers, and artists from the US and abroad visit campus. We believe that academic research is central to our mission and are proud of the diversity of the topics we have supported through conferences, workshops, and publications. Over the years, resources on campus such as our archives and library collection have significantly expanded thanks to community donors and SSU staff. The CHGS staff and affiliated faculty have conducted research and held fellowships with organizations such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention at The American University of Paris, Manhattan College, University of the Arts (London, England), the Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel), the Jewish Historical Institute (Warsaw, Poland), Jagiellonian University
(Krakow, Poland), KUMA International (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sorbonne University (Paris, France), Yahad-In Unum (Paris, France), and the University of Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland).
In 2018 Professors Lisa Mulman and Stephenie Young organized a conference at Salem State, entitled “Emerging Consequences: Aesthetics in the Aftermath of Atrocity.” Invited speakers included Dr. Jeremy Eichler; writer, scholar, and critic Dr. Michael Jaros (SSU); painter Yishai Jusidman; National Geographic photographer Ziyah Gafić; Dr. Lauren Walsh (NYU); and Dr. Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway University). This conference coincided with Professor Young’s (along with Professor Paul Lowe) multiyear conference “Why Remember? Memory and Forgetting in Times of War and its Aftermath” in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the CHGS co-sponsored.
Publications by CHGS staff and affiliated faculty include Professor Chris Mauriello’s work on the politics of dead bodies in the aftermath of World War II in Germany, Professor Dan Eshet’s work on teaching American Indian history, Professor Brad Austin’s work as series editor of the Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History with the University of Wisconsin Press, Professor Regina Kazyulina’s writing on sexual violence and women’s experiences under German occupation in Ukraine, and Professor Stephenie Young’s work on the forensics of memorialization in the former Yugoslavia, artistic projects at the US/ Mexican border, and memory politics in the contemporary nation of Georgia.
Current and ongoing CHGS research projects include Professor Young’s photography project on the ever-moving borders of Georgia (former USSR), a project about the Ringelblum archive in Warsaw, Poland, and Professor Kazyulina’s multi-year oral history project documenting the experiences of Russian-speaking refugees from the former Soviet Union. Also, Professors Mauriello and Kazyulina are working on a multi-part project exploring the testimonies of child survivors from the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp, entitled “Fragments of Memory: Lost Notebooks of Children’s Testimonies from the Holocaust.”
By Professor Stephenie Young, Senior Faculty Fellow in ResearchOver the course of its 10 years at SSU, CHGS has impacted campus, regional, national, and global conversations about both current and timeless issues through its support of faculty research, engagement with intellectual voices and perspectives from around the world, and commitment to creating a broad audience for scholarship related to the Holocaust and genocides. The Center’s unwavering dedication to rigorous, wide-ranging, and original research enriches the university and contributes more broadly to academic and intellectual progress.
Dr. Elizabeth Kenney, former director, Center for Research and Creative Activities, SSU
Being fortunate enough to be involved in the conception and formation of the Center was truly a high point of my academic career. Providing both SSU students and the larger community with access to diverse and critically sophisticated approaches to Holocaust and genocide studies filled an urgent need for progressive and empathic perspectives in these continuing crises of the modern world. Although the urgency of this project has only grown in the ten years since the founding of the Center, my remarkable colleagues at SSU continue this crucial work with endless energy. I look forward to a more humane and enlightened future as a result of their efforts.
Lisa Naomi Mulman, PhD Professor Emeritus, English Department
During the past 10 years, the Research Conversations Series has brought scholars, artists, filmmakers, and photographers to campus to present on their research and projects in progress. Professors Lisa Mulman and Stephenie Young initiated these meetings because they saw an opportunity for intellectual engagement. These meetings quickly grew from a small group of 5-6 scholars to larger, more inclusive meetings with generous support from the Cummings Foundation. Speakers have come from a variety of backgrounds and countries, including Serbia, Ukraine, and Syria as well as the US. We are very proud of the amazing people who have shared their projects with us. Some include: Ellen-Elias Bursać, “Translating Evidence and Interpreting Testimony at a War Crimes Tribunal: Working in a Tug-ofWar” (fall 2015); Lisa Mulman and Stephenie Young, “On-site Research During the Digital Age” (spring 2017); Renee Billingslea, “Picturing Hidden Stories” (spring 2021); Jeanne Essame, “Visualizing Haitian Exile in the Duvalier Era” (spring 2022); Louie Palu, “Arctic Narratives” (spring 2023); Keja Valens, “Cooking with Trujillo” (fall 2023); Ramona Bechauf, “Visual and Material Approaches to the Sonderkommando Photographs” (spring 2024); and Melissa Lyttle, “Where They Stood: The Dismantling of White Supremacy, One Statue at a Time” (spring 2024).
VISUALIZING HAITIAN EXILE
In the fall of 2017 I was invited to visit the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Salem State University. The invitation came from Prof. Stephenie Young with whom I have a long-time collaboration in the field of memory studies, dealing with the past and art and theory writing. In my work as a visual artist, I am dealing with the topic of war and genocide, and it was with great pleasure and appreciation that I had a chance to take part in several talks and conferences organized by Prof. Young at the center. I think that the CHGS is wonderful because it is so well-organized and offers many possibilities for research and study, plus an amazing library collection of sources on genocide studies.
Hopefully I will have an opportunity to come and visit this truly inspiring place again and contribute to the research and study programs.
Vladimir Miladinović, visual artist
Over the course of five years, I worked with the CHGS, took courses in its program, traveled to Europe multiple times, and was able to visit Holocaust Museums in New York City and Washington, DC. The team at the CHGS challenged me academically by allowing me to present my thesis at a research conversation. This was an incredible way to receive positive feedback and suggestions on how to produce a quality product. I am beyond grateful for all the life experience and skills that the CHGS has shared with me.
Danielle Luman, M.A. Candidate, HistoryThe CHGS talk proved to be key to my further research. What we discussed that day led to two academic articles on the Karadžić trial over the next year and chapters in The Palgrave Handbook of Languages and Conflicts and The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Politics. Having the CHGS conversation where I could air my ideas and receive informed feedback provided the impetus for those projects.
Ellen Elias-Bursać , independent scholar and former translator for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
Jewish immigrants from the former USSR have a unique experience that needs to be remembered. As a first generation Ukrainian-American Jew persecuted by the KGB who also lost family members in the Holocaust, I think it is important to collect and preserve these stories and the CHGS has been vital to this process.
—MikhailBrusilovsky
As an academic and research center with deep roots in the community and a long history of community engagement stretching back to our predecessor, the CHGS seeks to introduce the public to cutting edge research in the fields of Holocaust and genocide studies. By visiting area schools and community centers, CHGS staff strive to bridge the divide between academia and the community. In addition to public talks and lectures, we work with other centers and colleagues at SSU, such as the vibrant Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, to bring artists and musicians to the North Shore whose work speaks to and illuminates the experiences of individuals living through the horrors of war and genocide and their aftermaths.
Over the years we have partnered with many community organizations. Recently, we have worked closely with the Lynn Museum/Lynn Arts to debut two traveling exhibits. Evidence and Artifact: Documenting the Holocaust Through Images consists of photographs of artifacts from the Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen concentration camps taken by renowned photographer Richard Wiesel. In addition, Immigration Stories: An Oral History of RussianSpeaking Jews in Massachusetts was displayed in 2023 and recounts the community’s history through photographs, archival documents, artwork, and interviews with former refugees. Generously supported by grants from CJP and Mass Humanities, the exhibit is part of a larger oral history project that seeks to document the experiences of women and men who escaped religious and political persecution in the Soviet Union.
Through art, music, and storytelling that illuminates the experiences of individuals and our shared humanity, CHGS’ ongoing work in the community helps make the past legible.
By Professor Regina Kazyulina, Program Research Associate, CHGSThe Lynn Museum/LynnArts partnership with the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has been an invaluable and delightful experience. It has been an honor to host two exhibitions in 2021 and 2023, organized by the center and illuminating the experiences, hardships, and triumphs of those in our community and beyond. From large-scale photographs by Richard Wiesel of personal artifacts that survived the Holocaust to oral histories of Russianspeaking Jews in Massachusetts, the Center’s work is significant, and we are grateful for their collaboration. We look forward to growing our partnership in the future!
Doneeca Thurston-Chavez, Executive Director, Lynn Museum/LynnArts
I am so grateful for the collaboration between Masconomet Regional School and the Salem State Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The photo exhibition, Evidence and Artifact, that CHGS brought to our school was incredibly impactful for students and community members alike. The exhibit was displayed at Masco for a month and during that time Regina Kazyulina and Chris Mauriello visited and engaged our 11th-grade students by exploring the images and providing valuable context for each of them. One particularly inspiring outcome was in the American Studies course, where students wrote poetry based on an image of their choice. The resulting work was deeply moving and demonstrated empathy and understanding among all students involved. I highly recommend collaborating with the Center to bring their learning and expertise to your students.
Eva Urban Hughes , Social Studies Department Head at Masconomet Regional School District
The Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony, held annually by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, is the largest continuous commemoration ceremony north of Boston.
Our Yom HaShoah continues the tradition started decades ago by Harriet Wacks and Holocaust survivor Sonia Schreiber Weitz. The ceremony provides a space for relatives, friends, and community members to honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and those who survived its horrors. Despite the slogan “never again,” genocide and ethnic killings are still part of the modern political landscape. When we remember the victims, we seek to empower the public to fight these forms of injustice and violence.
Yom HaShoah is led by rabbis from the North Shore, and its program consists of memorial prayers, traditional Jewish songs, and a candle-
lighting ceremony. A cornerstone of the event is the survivors’ stories, which are told by survivors, their children, or their grandchildren. In addition, we invite outstanding scholars, artists, or authors to deliver a keynote address. Over the years, we have had speakers such as Ghetto Warsaw historian Samuel D. Kassow and award-winning scholars Omer Bartov and Laura Jockusch.
Since the pandemic, Yom HaShoah has been broadcast to audiences at home by a professional production team, so the event can be attended remotely or in person. The ceremony regularly draws close to 400 attendees and serves an increasingly diverse audience whose interest in the Holocaust reflects the event’s timeliness and relevance.
By Dan Eshet Phd, Program Director, CHGS (2016-2023)
I didn’t know what I would find when the Holocaust Center archives and manuscript collections were transferred to the SSU Archives in the summer of 2014. There would be some obvious material: the archives of the Center, with its records of events, photographs, and press coverage; the original tapes and paperwork from the Center’s important oral history project with genocide survivors; and the Papers of Sonia Weitz, co-founder of the Center.
There were also items that pointed towards stories yet untold: a program from a Chanukah performance at the Belsen Jewish School, photographs that appeared to be from the post-World War II era, and the minutes of the Jewish Social Service Agency of Lynn’s Resettlement Committee in 1948. We also found a group of notebooks written in Polish, one of which had a few intriguing words of English on its cover: War Relief Services, National Catholic Welfare Conference, USA. None of these items had records about who donated them or the story behind the material. We have since identified the donor of the notebooks and we continue to research the stories of the child survivors and their teachers.
We are continuing to expand the archives to support the mission of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. We’ve accessioned multiple interviews from the Russian-Jewish Émigré Oral History Project, along with related material from interviewees. The collection includes photographs, publications, and documentation of efforts to pressure the Soviet government to allow refuseniks such as Ida Nudel to emigrate. Other collections, including the Elsberg-Stark family papers, generously donated by Jason Stark, will help students understand the lengths to which Jewish refugees had to go to find safe harbor in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Salem State University Archives and Special Collections has been proud to play a role in the Center’s first decade at Salem State. We are looking forward to serving as a locus for collecting, preservation, and research in the decades to come.
By Susan Edwards, University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Salem State University
The CHGS enriched my experience as a Salem State University history student. Through digitizing the CHGS’s historical photographs, I am pleased to have increased accessibility to scenes stretching back through the history of its predecessor, the Holocaust Center Boston North, and the lives of its many contributors. Today’s CHGS is built on a rich history, and I am delighted I could assist.
Matthew G. Swindell, Graduate Assistant, 2023-2024
The discovery in the SSU archive of the children’s and mothers’ testimonies (written in Polish and in pencil) was something no one anticipated. Once the testimonies were translated, they revealed heartwrenching accounts of Holocaust terror. Knowing that every bit of this history must be acknowledged and recorded for future scholarship, for me personally, as chair (with Ann Walker) and interviewer for the Testimony Project for the Holocaust Center of the North Shore, I am truly grateful for this opportunity to know every voice is heard.
Dr. Harold and Zelda Kaplan
Top to bottom, left to right: Displaced Persons Camp, Austria 1946 (Sonia Schreiber Weitz Papers), Children of Refuseniks, Moscow (Galina Nizhnikov Papers)
Displaced Persons in Riverboat, Austria 1946 (Sonia Schreiber Weitz Papers)
Protest for Rights of Jewish DPs, Austria 1946 (Sonia Schreiber Weitz Papers)
Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry Action Newsletter (Galina Nizhnikov Papers)
Reisepass Belonging to Margaret Elsberg (Elsberg-Stark Family Papers)
Retrospective is a tricky thing. The term comes from the Latin, retrospectum, which means to look back, to survey events, to observe. We know that something which is referred to as “retro” in American slang can be both good and bad. It can be cool but also something that refers to a past that no longer exists. Thus, as we started to work on this reflection, this retrospective, we knew it would be a lot of work with some fun mixed in, but we had no idea how wonderful it would be to look back on the years and to revisit so many amazing moments we shared with our community. Ten years is a random number, but it’s the one we chose to assess ourselves and the work we have done and tried to do. What we have discovered is that for us, the CHGS has opened innumerable opportunities, given us the chance to do our own research, and to engage with communities near and far. It has allowed us to connect and interact with Salem State students and faculty and staff. It has enriched our lives, and we hope that our work has enriched yours as well.
By Professors Regina Kazyulina and Stephenie YoungThe Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) at Salem State University is an interdisciplinary academic center committed to advancing research, education and public programming in the fields of Holocaust education, comparative genocide, conflict studies, and human rights. Its academic, professional development and public programs seek to educate and to empower students, teachers and citizens to combat racism, prejudice, ethnic hatred, and abuse of authority—the root causes of mass violence and atrocities.
Congratulations to CHGS on your 10th Anniversary! Salem State University is extremely proud to host this center and of the remarkable impact you’ve had on our campus community, and on the entire region. Indeed, CHGS is perhaps needed more today than ever before. I look forward to the continued support of this center and its transformational work in the years ahead.
John Keenan, President, Salem State University
I express my gratitude towards the leadership of the CHGS for their unwavering commitment to disseminating the historical accounts of past atrocities on a global scale and for fostering awareness regarding the persisting challenges we confront in the pursuit of social equity. Through diligent research that unveils truths and educational endeavors that enrich our comprehension, the team at the Center is empowering us with the necessary knowledge to aspire towards a more enlightened future. It is imperative to acknowledge and take responsibility for the injustices that persist worldwide. This acknowledgment stands as a pivotal step in combating racism, prejudice, ethnic hostilities, and the abuse of authority. Heartfelt congratulations to all involved on the 10th Anniversary of CHGS.
Pat Maguire Meservey, President Emerita, Salem State University
The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Salem State has been a powerful force for community engagement, action, and opportunity through its programming over the past 10 years. I have gained so much insight about both human rights and human resilience through the lens of the study of conflict and genocide studies. The lectures, speakers, art, artifacts, and photography that the Center presents are always thought-provoking. As a leader in international education on campus, I have witnessed how so many students’ lives have been transformed by the CHGS over the past 10 years through opportunities to travel to Rwanda, Germany, France, Poland, and other sites that allow for firsthand examination of the effects of the Holocaust and genocide. I offer thanks and congratulations to the leadership of the CHGS for 10 years of exemplary education and programming that help us all combat hate and other forces that lead to atrocities against our fellow humans.
C. Julie Whitlow, PhD, Vice-Provost for Faculty and Global Engagement
THANK YOU FROM THE CHGS Students and community members are the heart and soul of the CHGS. Without your support, we would not be able to do the important and difficult work that we do. Without you, we would not exist. Our day-today work is not always easy and our contribution, well, it’s a small drop in the ocean. Yet we want you to know that when you show up for us, you remind us why we keep doing this. We rely on you and your continued support, no matter the form. Please see this publication as a small token of our tremendous debt of gratitude. Thank you!
CHGS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
(2023-2024)
Brad Austin
Lisa Johnson
Regina Kazyulina
Lori Marenda
Chris Mauriello
Robert McAndrews
Ed Morneau
EJ Sclafani
Harriet Tarnor Wacks
Stephenie Young
Editors: Regina Kazyulina, Stephenie Young
Graphics: Simeen Brown
Copy Editor: Adele Parker
Editing Assistants: Lynn Blayer, Cathy Hennessey
Printer: Salem State University Copy Center
Back Cover Photo: Richard Wiesel, Mini Torah Bible from Evidence and Artifact: Documenting the Holocaust Through Images
This publication is made possible with generous funding from the Cummings Foundation and Combined Jewish Philanthropies.
Front Cover: Photo: Stephenie Young: Claude Kaitare, Potočari Warehouse, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2016)